Craps Strategies

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Dice and dice games goes all the way back to the Crusades, but modern craps is only about a century old. Modern craps developed from the old English game referred to as Hazard. No one knows for certain the ancestry of the game, although Hazard is said to have been created by the Anglo, Sir William of Tyre, sometime in the 12th century. It’s believed that Sir William’s horsemen bet on Hazard during a blockade on the fortification Hazarth in 1125 AD. The name Hazard was acquired from the castle’s name.

Early French settlers brought the game Hazard to Nova Scotia. In the 1700s, when driven away by the British, the French relocated south and discovered sanctuary in the south of Louisiana where they after a while became Cajuns. When they left Acadia, they took their preferred game, Hazard, along. The Cajuns simplified the game and made it more mathematically fair. It is believed that the Cajuns changed the name to craps, which was derived from the name of the bad luck throw of two in the game of Hazard, recognized as "crabs."

From Louisiana, the game moved to the Mississippi scows and throughout the country. Many think the dice maker John H. Winn as the father of current craps. In the early 1900s, Winn designed the current craps setup. He created the Don’t Pass line so gamblers could bet on the dice to not win. At another time, he established the spaces for Place bets and put in place the Big 6, Big 8, and Hardways.